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Red Cult
The RedCult is the reigning religion in the Other and is responsible for the worship and sacrifice the occurs in the name of their supreme deity, the Creator. The Red Cult dominated the culture, tradition and law of the Other for nearly three millenia before Ingtandel destroyed the Eye of the Creator, banished the Red Cult from the continent, and in response reached out a hand of peace between Ingtandel and the Other, trying to end eight-hundred years of hostility and hatred. Their sigil, also the banner of the Other, is an eye with a drop of blood for an iris against a red background. The eye represents the Creator, who is all, and the drop of blood represents human beings, or flesh and blood, which exist within the Creator. History The Red Cult has existed for over three thousand years, but they began as a small, highly-selective group of men and women who vehemently worshipped the Creator. They believed that the Creator was all, and that humans and other living and nonliving things existed within him. They were extremists who dictated every aspect of their lives based on the idea that the Creator has given them all the knowledge and resources they needed for survival and that he should be eternally thanked for his unyielding kindness. The Red Cult was accepted and respected by the Others, but was not adopted as a main religion until much later. The Red Cult began to develop into a more dark era of worship during what is known in Ingtandel as the First Age. The Other and Ingtandel went at war with one another after Selyxian and Cirtinese longships infiltrated the Other, believing the land to be unoccupied. The Others regarded the people of Ingtandel as transgressors and heathens, for they did not worship the Creator and seemed to show no care for the existance the Creator bestowed graciously upon them, while Ingtandel saw the Others as primative, mentally disturbed and dangerous. Since the two continents became knowledgeble about one another's existance, they have lived in uneasy peace, neither group crossing the Meridian Ocean for over eight hundred years. After this war, the Red Cult began to condone the sacrifice of human beings, believing that any man, woman or child who did not believe in, pray to or respect the Creator must be returned to his consciousness to be purified. In the midst of the hatred now directed toward Ingtandel, the Red Cult grew to its most powerful position, and became the supreme religion of the kingdom. Those of the Other who were disgusted and horrified at the lack of faith the Ingtandel people showed towards their maker made it easy for the Red Cult to promote their radical ways to the public, and in the fear of being erradicated or subjucated by these unreligious monsters the Others accepted the Red Cult with open arms. This began an era of fear, mistrust, and death that has persisted in the Other for nearly a millenium. p The Creator The Creator is the supreme deity of the Other and is attributed to the creation of the world. He is a figure that has no true form but exists in everything and everyone and is paralleled to the universe itself. He has been worshipped for three thousand years and is the most important religious figure in the history of the world. The Eye of the Creator The Eye of the Creator is a pitch-black jewel shaped like a teardrop found in the ancient Ruins of Tor three hundred leagues from the city of Chriÿt, buried over two-hundred feet in the ground in the Tomb of Tor. Some say that all of the Creator's power is concentrated within the jewel; others say that the Creator himself lives inside of it. It was found with the bones of the first king of the Other, Tor, who was said to have been blessed by the Creator and given eternal existence even after death. The Red Cult promoted the jewel as the Creator's eternal gift to the people of the Other, claiming that it held a power that could overthrow all kingdoms that transgressed against the Creator's laws. They made it an artifact of worship, and bestowed it upon Torjén when he became the supreme leader of the Red Cult. Torjén used it against Ingtandel later in his life, entrancing the dragon Temeren and manipulating the leaders of the six kingdoms into providing human sacrifices. Whoever looks into the black depths of the jewel becomes mesmerized by it and could be bidden to do whatever the holder wished them to do. The jewel changed colors depending on its location; it maintained its black color in the Other, while in Syxuin it was bright turquoise, and in the Ai'gyr it was as red as blood. The jewel became as clear as glass when in the presence of Lydonyé Agost, the Mother of Ingtandel. It is unknown what gives the Eye its power, but it was undeniably an artifact that had a profound effect on man and beast alike. The Omens The Omens are said to be the stream of consciousness of the Creator that can be accessed through ritual the drinking of herb-laced drink known as "vaggÿn", which put the drinker into a stupor that could last up to three days. During this time of "sleep", the person would be exposed to the Creator's . Only fifteen people in the history of the Other have achieved this, one of them being Torjén.